Many previously known side members for trailer chassis are made from spliced beam components whereby the joints constitute weakened regions in the side member which means that the beam has to be over-dimensioned. Many existing side members for trailer chassis are therefore relatively heavy in order to be able to carry a certain load.
British patent application no. GB 1 314 422 discloses a vehicle chassis comprising two longitudinally extending structural members each of which has two elongate plate-like flanges that extend in the longitudinal direction of the member and which are spaced apart and interconnected by a web corrugated in the longitudinal direction such that the line of interconnection of the web and each flange defines a wave.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,940,162 describes a load-bearing structural member comprising an upper plate member, a lower plate member spaced a distance X from the upper plate member, and a reinforcing web comprising a plurality of web segments extending back and forth between the web segments in zigzag fashion. The web segments meet the plate members at a web angle, θ wherein the magnitude of the two variables X and θ are varied over the length of the structural member in accordance with the weight, strength, and shape requirements of particular sections thereof.
German patent no. DE 10148312 concerns carrier frame that has a pair of relatively spaced longitudinal supports extending in the vehicle longitudinal direction, coupled via transverse supports. Each longitudinal support has upper and lower members joined by a number of vertical elements, whereby each lower member is divided into a front section, a central section and a rear section, with auxiliary transverse supports between the central sections of both longitudinal supports forming a plafform for an engine block, fitted to the carrier frame as a pre-assembled unit.
British patent application no. GB 2034792 discloses a structural element consisting of a pair of chords and a web in the form of a zigzag strip consisting of oblique straights alternating with crests by which the web is joined to, and between the chords. Each of the crests is a flat of parallelogrammatic form and has the larger of the supplementary angles of the parallelogram between 120° and 150°. Each of the straights has its major cross-sectional dimension extending in a plane parallel to that of the chords or at least having a component parallel to the plane of the chords.
International publication no. WO 2011/111510 describes a floor structure of a trailer that can reduce the number of assembly steps and lighten a vehicle body. The floor structure is provided with main beams that extend in the lengthwise direction of the trailer and a plurality of floor members extend in the lengthwise direction. A planar structure is formed by linking the main beams and the floor members in the widthwise direction of the trailer. The main beams and the floor members comprise long aluminum alloy members.